North Linden is first neighborhood to get code crackdown

Thursday

May 29, 2014 at 12:01 AMMay 29, 2014 at 11:44 AM

The first target for Columbus' new code-enforcement strike team is a North Linden neighborhood where a 13-year-old girl was raped behind an abandoned house in April. "It made (North Linden) sort of rise to the top more quickly," said Steven Schoeny, the city's development director.

Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch

The first target for Columbus’ new code-enforcement strike team is a North Linden neighborhood where a 13-year-old girl was raped behind an abandoned house in April.

“It made (North Linden) sort of rise to the top more quickly,” said Steven Schoeny, the city’s development director.

The team is one of a number of efforts by the city, county and Ohio State University to address neglected and abandoned houses, problem landlords and dangerous rentals, all of which were highlighted by “ Legacy of Neglect,” a four-day series in The Dispatch last year.

The Proactive Code Enforcement, or PACE, team’s agenda is twofold: go into neighborhoods hit hard by vacant houses and blight, and go after landlords with a history of violations.

The city is hiring eight additional code-enforcement officers and a supervisor to bolster its overall efforts. Schoeny said that seven seasoned code officers and one supervisor will be on the PACE team.

North Linden community leaders say they are encouraged.

“As a commission, we’re excited that this is the pilot area,” said Jennifer Adair, who leads the North Linden Area Commission.

At the same time, the Franklin County Environmental Court has added a staff attorney and plans to add an additional environmental specialist to help stay on top of cases that too often slipped through the cracks not that long ago.

“The previous administration wasn’t too organized,” Ben Hoelzel, the court’s first staff attorney, said of Judge Harland H. Hale, who left the bench last year.

Judge Dan Hawkins took over the court in July.

Another problem spot is the area around Ohio State University, where students rent properties that oftentimes don’t meet code. The university promised to work with property owners and managers, and so far has signed up 22 for a program that has inspectors rate units.

So far, program coordinator Alex Sanchez and fire inspectors have gone through 696 of about 2,600 units.

Each rental unit is rated with one to five buckeyes, depending on the inspection.

Inspectors look at smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors, key systems, lighting, emergency escapes, fire extinguishers and other measures. “We want them to be in a safe living environment,” Sanchez said.

The program area — bounded by Arcadia Avenue to the north, Olentangy River to the west, 5th Avenue to the south and the railroad tracks to the east — houses about 16,000 students.

Yesterday, Sanchez and two fire inspectors visited a house owned by Buckeye Real Estate at 2000 Indianola Ave. Sanchez liked the sprinkler system. He and the inspector appreciated the ladders mounted in wells outside basement windows.

Sanchez tested smoke alarms and found that some were missing batteries, which is not unusual, he said. Others dangled from their mounts. The basement, he said, needs a smoke alarm. A spray-tan machine was found in a closet with a furnace and a water heater. Tenants told them about mice.

Fire Lt. Greg Howard’s main concern was the more than 20 bedrooms in the four units. Sanchez will compile what they found for his review.

Tenant Marissa Otto, 22, who just graduated from Ohio State, said she wished the university had started the rating system before she began college. “It would have been helpful,” she said.